The artists are training students to be specific in their movement choices, and to notice the many elements that come into play to create a movement phrase. The students are building language skills of observation and description they will need to provide useful feedback to peers later in the residency.
In weekly improvisation work, students learn a structured artistic process through which they imagine, improvise, reflect and improvise again. Improvisation gives the students the experience of creating and exploring new movement language freely and incorporating new ideas from their peers.
Through a lesson taught by a literacy coach halfway through the residency you can see how connections are made to classroom work on story, and how students and teachers recognize that dance is a different kind of storytelling.
Courage and flexibility are required of student performers when only half of their classmates are present for the final performance, due to the legendary February 2014 snowstorm. The nature of performance and its unique learning opportunities are highlighted.
